Instead of the Sea: 8 Ways to Become a Space Tourist

If you’ve traveled/flown around our planet and are bored with even the most extreme places, then it’s time to expand your horizons and hear the unforgettable: «Welcome to space!»

Currently, eight companies on Earth offer (or will soon offer) the opportunity to try yourself as a space tourist. And today we’ll look at the terms and cost of this unusual journey at each of them.

Views like these can be seen from the ISS, and they are only accessible to astronauts and a small handful of space tourists. But eight companies want to change that / NASA

 

On April 28, 2001, 60-year-old American businessman Dennis Tito became the first tourist to leave the Earth’s atmosphere, spending nearly eight days in space. Much of his time was spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Tito reportedly paid US$20 million for his near-Earth cruise. NASA objected to Tito’s trip, officially stating that Tito would not be sufficiently prepared for the flight, but Tito himself believes they were more concerned about his age. Regardless, Tito successfully made it to the ISS thanks to Space Adventures, which struck a deal with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which landed him a seat on a Soyuz rocket.
Since then, six other space tourists have flown to space, all of whom arrived on Soyuz spacecraft. The last, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, visited in 2009. The end of this early era of space tourism was due to the doubling of the crew size aboard the ISS in 2009; and the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011. This meant NASA would need all the extra seats on the Soyuz to launch its astronauts—leaving no room for space station tourists.

But the seven space tourists won’t remain alone on this list for long. Numerous private companies are planning to launch their own space tourism programs. You’ve likely heard of the major players: Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic just resumed testing of its SpaceShipTwo in early April (following a deadly test in 2014), and Jeff Bezos’s private space venture, Blue Origin, aims to send crewed missions into space as early as this year.

And beyond these heavy hitters, there are plenty of other companies offering tourists the chance to visit space. Some are a little further along in their development than others, and of course, there are always reasons to be skeptical about space tourism. In recent years, we’ve seen many similar ventures come and go without ever reaching space. But we remain optimistic.  

We’ve compiled information for you about the latest commercial space programs that could take you away from the blue globe – but, of course, at a price.

Illustration of the interior of Orion Span’s Aurora Station / Orion Span

1. Orion Span

In early April, Orion Span announced its plans for the Aurora station, billing it as the world’s first luxury space hotel. Construction in space is scheduled to begin in 2021 using proprietary technology and construction methodology (they haven’t even disclosed the exact rocket they’ll use to launch materials). According to the latest information, the station will have two private suites, accommodating a total of four guests and two crew members per stay.

Before their trip, guests will be required to complete a training program: «We decided to take the traditional 24-month training program to prepare travelers for a visit to the space station and streamline it into just three months,» says Orion Span CEO Frank Bunger. «The first phase of the certification program is being completed online, making space travel easier than ever.» The next part will be conducted at the state-of-the-art Orion Span training center in Houston, Texas. Final certification will be completed while the traveler is at Auror Station. a.» Bunger also adds that Orion Span would like to partner with SpaceX to launch guests to the station.

 

The cost of such a trip is $9.5 million per person for a 12-day mission, making it one of the most affordable ways to visit space. «In context, traditionally, space tourists have paid between $20 and $50 million to stay aboard the ISS,» says Bunger. «Our long-term goal is to continue to drive that cost down even further, making space more accessible to even more people.»

Another note: Aurora Station also plans to sell space villas, in case you want to fly to space frequently.

VSS Unity went on a test flight on April 5, 2018 /2018 Virgin Galactic

2. Virgin Galactic

Founded in 2004 by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic aims to take tourists on suborbital flights aboard SpaceShipTwo, a spacecraft launched from an airplane rather than a rocket. Although the company hoped to launch its maiden voyage in 2009, a series of setbacks continually delayed the first official launch. The most serious of these was the loss of the VSS in 2014. During a test flight, the ship’s co-pilot, Michael Alsbury, died.

The company returned to testing on April 5 with a test of VSS Unity, which reached an altitude of 25.7 kilometers (83.5 miles). The ship is planned to ultimately carry people only to the edge of space, at an altitude of about 100 kilometers (62 miles). Since SpaceShipTwo isn’t designed for long-duration missions, the total flight time will be only a few minutes. A seat on the suborbital vehicle will cost $250,000, and passengers won’t require extensive training. As of 2017, approximately 650 people have purchased tickets for this unforgettable journey.

Test launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard in 2016 / Blue Origin

3. Blue Origin

Blue Origin’s «New Shepard» program, named after the first US man in space, Alan Shepard, aims to launch passengers in a capsule atop a rocket, similar to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. The new program is still in development, but the company is targeting its first human flight in late 2018/early 2019.

Short-duration missions (approximately 11 minutes in duration) are expected to require one day of training, which will take place immediately before the flight. This training will include mission and vehicle overviews, safety briefings, and mission simulations. Tickets are not yet on sale, but rumor has it that prices are comparable to other short-term missions and will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov on a space walk. No space tourist has ever taken a walk like this, but Space Adventures wants to change that. /NASA

4. Space Adventures 

Space Adventures, responsible for organizing the flights of all seven space tourists, is the most successful space tourism company to date. Although it has been unable to send new guests to the ISS since 2009 due to capacity issues, it continues to promote new missions, including a spacewalk on the ISS (no tourist has ever taken one) and a trip around the Moon, which will also include a stay on the ISS. While Space Adventures doesn’t have its own spacecraft, it has long partnered with Roscosmos to send its clients into space on the Soyuz rocket, and plans to do so again in the future.  

Although space tourism is also possible Although the company’s operations have been scaled back since 2009, and there is no firm timeline for their relaunch, it still currently offers adventure options such as Soyuz flights and zero-gravity flights.

5. Roscosmos

Roscosmos has traditionally worked with Space Adventures to launch space tourists to the ISS, but recently began developing its own program. The Russian agency plans to build a luxury space module for the ISS through a partnership with RSC Energia, the space station’s contractor. Guests will be treated to private accommodations with four «bedrooms» (each approximately 2 m³), ​​equipped with hygiene and medical amenities, and a lounge area. While pre-flight training plans have not yet been announced, it is expected to be a shortened version of the professional two-year program (similar to preparation for Dennis Tito’s eight-day space experience).

 

Prices will range from $40 million for one or two weeks to $60 million for a month-long stay, which will include a spacewalk supervised by an astronaut.

The agency intends to launch the space hotel by 2022, although it should be noted that the ISS is scheduled to be retired in 2028, meaning the hotel may be a short-term undertaking. 

6. KosmoKurs

In 2016, Roscosmos granted permission to the private company KosmoKurs to develop a reusable rocket for sending tourists into space. Since only designs have been approved so far, the company will likely conduct flight tests before launching crewed missions.

Similar to Blue Origin’s flights, these will be short missions (about 15 minutes of total flight time and only a few minutes of weightlessness). Guests will be launched into space in a capsule atop a rocket. The training program will last three days, and the full package will cost between $200,000 and $250,000 per person.

Axiom Station Plans to Build a Sister to the ISS – The Company Plans to Begin Construction of Its Own Station, Connected to the ISS / Axiom Space

7. Axiom Space

While its primary services are on-orbit research and manufacturing, Axiom Space’s ultimate goal is to launch a commercial space station—the self-proclaimed successor to the ISS. While the company hasn’t released many details about its space tourism program, according to its website, it plans to send modules to the ISS as early as 2021 and establish its own space station by 2024. Private clients will be able to book seven- to ten-day missions to the station, with training provided in the weeks leading up to the trip.

Concept of the BFR rocket that landed on the Moon /SpaceX

8. SpaceX

While Elon Musk’s SpaceX isn’t a space tourism company (it currently manages cargo missions for NASA and other clients), it is already developing technology for crewed missions aboard the Dragon spacecraft, which is expected to carry NASA astronauts into space.

But, taking a larger scale and moving beyond its core operations, in 2017 the company announced plans to fly two private citizens. This is intended to be a near-Earth mission, similar to the American Apollo 8 space program. Details are still sparse, but Musk recently announced that the proposed lunar missions will not use Falcon Heavy rockets as planned, but instead will use a larger rocket called the BFR, which is currently under development.

If you had the chance to go to space, which of these 8 companies would you use?

Preview photo: Dreamstime

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